


Smears of Ink and Color

by a_bowl_of_peaches



Category: The Property of Hate
Genre: (at least I hope it doesn't come across as that i didn't intend it to do so), (i haven't posted in so long what are tags), Alluded to, Cuddling, Double Feature, Gratuitous Smut, Hurt/Comfort, Lots of Sex, M/M, Nudity, Sex, Storm - Freeform, Trans Male Character, Trans RGB, as nude as two invisible telly-heads can get anyway, but hopefully enjoyable smut, i think, is what this pairing is known as, mild hydrophobia, not self-cest, the Key moniker will make sense once you read the notes I promise, touch starvation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 05:59:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8957476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_bowl_of_peaches/pseuds/a_bowl_of_peaches
Summary: RGB finds himself caught in a storm and blacks out after being struck by lightning. He wakes in a cave, initially confused as to how he got there, only to realize he isn't alone.Even more confusing? This stranger doesn't seem to wish him any harm. If anything, quite the opposite....





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there.
> 
> So this story was promised almost three months ago and I apologize for its lateness. The idea lodged itself firmly in my brain after someone mentioned enjoying this pairing, dubbed Double Feature, but being shy about posting stuff related to it. So here's me writing this for him (and enjoying every second of it). :D
> 
> A note about Negative!RGB’s name in this. Because I consider RGB and Negative!RGB two people/souls occupying the same space and body (at least in the realm of this fanfiction), I differentiate between the two of them by calling Negative!RGB Key, for the center of the CMYK color wheel (which is black and called the key color). Negative, to me anyways, is less of a title and more of descriptor, and I want to emphasize that this isn't selfcest, hence the name.
> 
> Also this is probably way, way, WAY OOC, but… I dunno. Guileless Key who enjoys giving and receiving affection just gets me in the heart, and him having a glitch-y, gurgling voice makes me happy too. Also silently suffering, touch-starved RGB because yaaaaas.
> 
> With all that being said, leave a comment and let me know whatcha think (and if I missed any typos, which I probably did).  
> And if y'all like this pairing, let me that know too!

         RGB didn’t know how he got to the cave. He didn’t even know where the cave _was_ exactly. His last memory was of the plains, of the grass whipping against his thighs as he tried to outrun the thick clouds tumbling over each other, sweeping across the sky like a curtain over a stage. Roiling with purple and black, they closed in and swept passed him, stealing the light and replacing it with shadows.

         The rain had followed, roaring and silver and pelting him like a swarm, stinging at every point of contact. His jacket, held over his head as a makeshift umbrella, was soaked through after a minute, the heavy fabric sinking in his hands and bending his antennae at uncomfortable angles. Grumbling about the futility of his own efforts, whimpering at the pelting, he had shrugged it back on and tried using his hat to cover his vents.

         Then the lightning had… well.

         RGB shivered and sat up, wrapping his arms around himself and doing his best to dispel the memory of white-hot light and _tearing_ , ripping pain, as if he was being rent in two, followed by a roaring crack of thunder. He brushed his knees, fussing over the mud and grass stains, if only because fussing over something small meant he could ignore something big, just for a short while.

         Tugging at his ivory gloves and fretting over the frayed patches at the heels of his hands, RGB cast his gaze around his temporary shelter, the light of his telly providing just enough illumination to pick out a few details. It was dry at the very least, the stone walls an even grey, the floor relatively even, elevated slightly so the rain, coming down in sheets so thick he could scarcely see a few feet from the entrance, couldn’t make its way inside.

         “Small mercies,” he mused to himself, test-bar mouth low on his screen, dripping a bit of red and bleeding yellow. He was out of the rain, yes, but _how_ had he gotten out of the rain? Perhaps this was no cave but a _lair_ , a waiting room to his demise at the hands of a pack of Fears or a hungry Grief, perhaps even a rogue swarm of Denials, their gauzy wings blending with the wall, waiting to strike.

         He shivered again, reaching for the lapels of his jacket to pull it tighter around himself. Only…

         He glanced around himself, frantic, when he realized his hands had met nothing. He had nightmares in his jacket, and dreams (not to mention a little purple bow from his latest failure), and he was _not_ about to pay Madras another two pints for replacements. Though, knowing her, it would probably cost him two and a half pints now. Not to mention Tailor and Cell would absolutely flay him alive for losing what little protection he had while on his travels.

         But more importantly, it was _his_ , it was _him_ , and the thought of going out to find it devoured by Doubts or absolutely _ruined_ by the atrocious weather was—

         Something landed at his side and he jumped, throwing up an arm to defend himself. It was his jacket, peach fabric wrinkled as if wrung out, damp but no longer dripping, which meant someone had put their hands on it, which… meant….

         RGB telly whacked against the wall as he scrabbled backwards, crunching himself small and tight as he caught sight of someone at the opposite end of the cave, hardly fifteen feet away. A second screen brightened in response, the staring eye displayed across it wide and curious, and the figure rose from his crouch as if, by moving away, RGB had pulled him upright.

         “Who are you?” RGB blurted, gaze flitting up and down, taking in spats and trousers and blazer, even a bowtie and suspenders and gloves. It was like looking in a mirror but the glass was dark and dripping, light too harsh here and not enough there, clothing black and grey instead of orange and green. He dragged his legs closer to himself, wondering if he could survive the storm long enough to get away. “What do you want with me?” His shoulders jammed themselves up higher when the mystery monster took two steps closer. _“Don’t!”_

         The other froze in the process of a third step, sinking his weight down into his feet and then down further, until he was crouching again, knuckles resting on the floor as a means of balance.

         RGB gulped, eyeing the shortened distance between them—six feet, if not less. “W-Who are you?” he repeated. He ran his gaze over the stranger’s ensemble again, over a familiar telly. “Are you… me?”

         The stranger shook their head.

         “Who are you then?” he asked for a third time, magenta mixing with yellow as he spoke.

         The stranger bent his head, tilting forward as if struggling. **“** **…** **̷͘͞** **K** **̧̢** **e** **͘͜͜͡** **y** **̀̀** **.”** The response grated and crackled over the air itself, like static and thick, gurgling liquid. It almost sounded painful. The stranger’s eye flicked away, and if RGB hadn’t been so focused on his immediate survival, he would have said the other was… shy.

         “Key?” RGB echoed, relaxing a fraction.

         The eye roamed back, examining him as its owner nodded. **“** **I** **̷͢͠** **w** **o** **n** **’** **t̡͘͞** **…** **̨́́** **͢͜** **hu** **r** **t** **̶̨** **you** **̷̛̀** **.”**

“Really?” RGB would have raised an eyebrow if he had one to spare.

         The stranger, Key, nodded again, earnestly, and RGB found himself relaxing, prying his nails from their digging grip on his arms, unfolding his legs from their crunched position.

         He was never one to trust so easily but…. He couldn’t deny the implicit faith he had in the other, as if they already knew each other from something, from somewhere. The memories struggled against his efforts to capture them and he let them flit away.

         “I… Where are my manners?” RGB fumbled for the performer’s smile he so often wore and managed something halfway between it and sincere. “My name is RGB.” He glanced to the entrance, pointing to the storm outside. “I assume you were the one to drag me out of the rain?”

Key nodded, projected eye curving just so, as if bent by a smile.

         “Then I owe you my thanks.”

         Key shook his head for a second time, the light swinging around the cave. RGB blinked when he saw something glitter blue and shine gold, but was drawn from his curiosity when Key stood again and took a step forward, twisting his fingers together. He paused, eye on the empty space at RGB’s side.

         RGB found himself somewhat smitten by Key’s nervousness. “I don’t bite,” he promised, patting the ground. “Sit with me, if you’d like. I daresay you’ll be more comfortable than bare rock,” he added, giving a dramatic shudder.

         Permission given, Key’s hesitation fell away. He strode forward and nestled himself against RGB’s side, and quickly proved himself to be the warmest entity in the cave.

         RGB tried to pretend like he wasn’t cold, like his drying clothes weren’t leeching the heat from his body, but Key appeared to have no such qualms— he all but drew the other telly-head into his lap, pressing their sides together. He put an arm around RGB with the clear intent of holding him close when a crackle of electricity danced along his palm. He cocked his head at the sparks flashing along his glove, eye flicking to RGB.

         “Yes… I suppose I’m a bit damp,” RGB admitted. Though, now that it was his most pressing issue…. He scratched at his wrist and squirmed at the itchy stinging making itself known across his body where drying cloth clung to his body. “I’ll dry out soon enough,” he promised with an affected laugh. “Besides, it’s not like I have anywhere else to g—”

         Key reached for his neck and pulled the knot of his green bowtie undone before RGB could consider flinching away.

         Wishing he had eyes to blink and thoroughly stunned, RGB watched the other hang the piece of cloth over a nearby stalagmite. When Key reached for him again, easing first his left suspender from his shoulder, then his right, he didn’t protest, shock giving away to… to….

         RGB’s mouth contorted, rippling across the bottom of his screen as Key lifted his hands to his shirt, eye following the line of buttons as they opened and parted under his fingers, one after the other. He made it about halfway down before RGB gathered himself and flinched away, clutching his shirt closed.

         “What are you doing?” he blurted with absolutely no finesse. Something hummed deep in his chest, not exactly like a heartbeat, but alive in a different sort of way.

         And highly responsive to the way he was being touched.

         Key tugged at one of RGB’s cuffs. **“T** **̷̸́** **his** **͏** **...** ** **.** **̧** **Hu** **͏͢** **rt** **͟͝** **s** **̴** **.”****

         “I… It’s nothing I can’t handle,” RGB insisted, left reeling at the admission. Why, why would anyone care if he was in discomfort? “Just a touch itchy, is all. As soon as this little rain shower is over, I—”

         Lightning must have struck somewhere just outside their shelter, because the roar of thunder was enough to drown out all thoughts, never mind words.

         RGB cleared his throat sharply and removed himself from where he had thrown his body against Key’s chest, freeing himself from the arms that came around his back and shoulders in response. “Yes, well… The pain, though irritating, is not something I cannot stand to suffer for a short while.” Though that while was steadily growing longer as he spoke as the storm continued to crescendo. The cave, at least, seemed to be carved into some sort of hill, because the cacophony of rain was blessedly muted from its true, no doubt deafening volume.

         Key considered him for a moment, single-eyed stare unwavering. He was almost like Madras, only his gaze wasn’t mocking and he had no mouth to smirk with. It wouldn’t have suited him even if he did have one. Finally, his telly tipped half an inch to the right. **“** **W** **̧͢͏** **…** **W** **̴͟** **h** **̴͠** **y** **̛͘̕** **?”**

         RGB twitched, both at the question and the other’s harsh voice, as if he was speaking through a thick cough. “What?”

         Key tilted his head left and right, the black ink dripping upwards from his vents thickening for a moment. A gurgling noise escaped them and his eye darted away, the shyness from earlier returning as he fought his own body to find his voice and speak.

         RGB softened, a few drops of blue and magenta falling onto his half-open shirt. “It’s all right,” he promised, resting a hand on the other’s arm, drawing it away after a moment of contact when sparks flashed. “You’re right, you know.” He didn’t linger on how easy it was to let the admission slip free to this familiar stranger. “I should take these off and dry properly.”

         After a moment of hesitation, RGB unbuttoned the rest of his shirt, shrugging first one arm free, then the other. He unlaced his shoes next, aware of the gaze on him, and toed them off. He made a show of wringing out his shirt, hissing and shaking his hands when the nip of sparks proved too strong, and passed it to Key so it could hang with his bowtie before pulling off his gloves. His binder, green to match his shirt, he left—it was dry enough, and, if it wasn’t, he could easily convince himself of such. He did, however, adjust the color of it to match the dark grey of the cave walls.

         Now RGB shivered not for theatrics but reality, wrapping his arms around himself. The breeze wasn’t cold but it was cool, and what moisture lingered on his skin leeched the heat from him as it dried in pins and needles.

         He turned his head at the rustle of fabric next to him, antennae flicking in place of a blink when something fell around his shoulders—Key’s dark blazer. It smelled like pen ink and roses and, more importantly, it was warm, as if Key had pulled it from a dryer.

         “Thank you,” RGB murmured, drawing it tighter around himself.

         Key rumbled in response, reaching out to lay a gloved palm on each of his biceps. Slowly, as if not to startle him, he began to rub, chafing the warmth back into his invisible skin and soothing away the prick and burn of the water.

         It had been so long since someone had touched him gently, without the desire to cause pain. RGB couldn’t stop himself from moving closer, from pressing into those careful hands as they ran along his body like he was something delicate and precious. It was selfish, downright unfair even, but he couldn’t— didn’t want to—

         “Don’t stop,” RGB begged in a whisper when the hands slowed. “Please… don’t stop.”

         Key rumbled a low noise, the air running hot through his vents as he bent forward to nuzzle RGB’s neck, hands sliding from shoulder to elbow, shoulder to elbow then back, under the borrowed blazer to cup his waist and run between fabric and skin.

         RGB hummed a pleased noise, freeing one arm from his pseudo-blanket to reach for the other. While fairness wasn’t usually something he sought to keep, well, _fair_ , in this situation, with the hands running ever lower on his back and the excitement swirling between them like silt to cloud clear waters, a lack of reciprocation was inexcusable. He ran his bare thumb over the point where screen met casing, gathering drips of black over his skin. He did it again, using both hands now, tracing vertically until he reached vents.

         The eye flickered and seemed to roll, and a clunky noise emitted from Key’s telly, like a slowed purr.

         “Does that feel good?” RGB slid his hands back down, cupping the underside of the darker telly like he would have cupped a chin. He could see his fingers and palms now, painted into visibility with glossy black. “Do you want me to keep going?”

         Key nodded, dragging him closer, straight into his lap. RGB’s color-line rippled around a grin, all green with a few drips of yellow. It had been, after all, quite some time since his last… _encounter_ with a situation of this sort. A breathy sound escaping his vents when a hand slipped down his stomach, fingertips playing over the hem of his trousers. He nodded at the questioning look, pushing his hips into a warm palm when it pressed between his thighs.

         Key watched him grind against his hand for a few moments, and the eye on him wasn’t just hungry.

         It was starved.

         RGB grinned again, reaching a hand around the other’s telly to slid his fingers between bent wires, toying with the antennae gently. “It isn’t right for me to be all but bare when you’re keeping this on,” he tutted, tugging at an upturned collar. “Shall we remedy that?”

         Key nodded and stood in the same moment RGB slipped off his lap, a strange synchronicity RGB chose not to linger on as he unbuttoned his trousers. The fabric puddled around his ankles and he daintily stepped free of it, hooking a pant-leg on his toe so he didn’t have to bend for it.

         Folding the article of clothing into thirds, RGB half-turned to observe his companion as subtly as possibly. He didn’t know why, other than old habit. Other than a dark, hovering telly and its single staring eye, there was nothing to see but the cave wall.

         “Aren’t we a sight, you and I?” RGB chuckled, unable to keep a thread of bitterness out of his tone. He dropped his trousers to the floor. “Or rather, lack thereof.”

         Key seemed to shrug and reached for him, crackling a murmur of white noise. RGB jumped when a hand ran over the back of his telly, tilting his head until—

         It wasn’t a kiss where a single point of contact met one part of his screen. This… This was like a power-surge, too bright and too electric and all around him. He pressed tighter to Key, hands grasping at the back of his telly, blinded by light and static, consumed by it.

         It was like belonging to something again. To someone.

         RGB pulled back as the thought crossed his mind, shaking minutely. He didn’t have the will or the energy to share himself with someone again, not yet, not when there were still wounds cross his heart like he had rolled it in shattered glass.

         In the mess of a shattered prism, perhaps.

         Key tilted his head forward to bump the tops of their tellies together, watching him as if waiting for a cue.

         RGB shifted his weight, trying to summon a convincing smile, shoving his thoughts away. He wanted to indulge in the present instead of longing for the past, wanted to sate his desperate need for touch without wishing for another touching him. “Warn me next time you do that,” he tried to tease, but for all his acting he could not hide the trembling in his legs. He sat down near their jackets, discarded on the floor.

         Key cocked his head, joining him and reaching for him again, hands fitting to his waist.

         RGB slipped into his lap, wanting to continue their actions and forget his thoughts. He straddled the other’s folded legs, jolting when something hot brushed against his stomach, casting his gaze downward. Black clung to his hands as he slid them down Key’s front, mapping out the other’s torso in fading lines until he reached his goal.

         “May I?” RGB checked, a hand hovering over the source of the velvety warmth. When Key nodded, he took it in hand, running from base to tip to test its girth and length, smirking when the other gave a helpless little buck, too small to dislodge him but enough to make him rock in response.

         It drew Key’s attention downward as well, and he lifted RGB by the hips just enough to reveal the almost translucent streak of color on his thigh. He made no effort to disguise his sudden interest, and RGB felt rather than saw the answering throb.

         “We need something if you’re going to take me there,” RGB hummed, releasing the other to move off his lap. He leaned his weight back on his hands, legs splayed just enough to reveal the small sliver of color beading between his unseen thighs, the growing evidence of his own excitement. “Something to make the way easier. I’m a touch wet already,” he added, clearing his throat. “But I don’t think it’ll be enough to… Well.”

         Key appeared to consider this for a moment before brightening, reaching up to his vents to gather some of the darkness there. His fingers came in to view, painted in a rainbow sort of black, like a shimmering oil slick. Kneeling at the more colorful telly’s side, he offered them as if for approval, wide eye earnest and timid all at once.

         “I daresay that will work,” RGB chuckled. When Key waited, fingers twitching as his eye roamed lower, he smiled, spread his legs a bit wider, and guided Key’s hand between them.

         Key touched him tentatively, single eye focused on him as if he would disappear otherwise. He slid careful fingers between the folds of RGB’s entrance, mapping the wetness before easing a single finger inside.

         RGB leaned back on his hands, watching Key work, wishing he had a lip to bite. Green and magenta flowed freely down his telly, pattering onto his bare chest. The drips had trickled their way to his waist when Key added a second finger, middle and index pushing into him, testing the give of his body.

         “’S good,” RGB praised, letting his head fall back for a moment. A shudder rolled through him when Key crooked his fingers, thumb rubbing slow circles outside him. He rocked his hips into the motions, head falling back, vents whirring.

         Key watched him with a wide eye and a tilted head, keeping his motions slow, almost too slow. The drag of his fingers was maddening, the pushing of his hand working to stir the hot coals flaring in the bit of RGB’s belly but never moving quick enough to coax them into flame.

         “Key… Please…” he whined after several minutes of the careful torture, after three fingers had pressed inside him. His body had closed tightly around them, welcoming and rejecting the intrusions all at once, but now he only flexed around them, desperate for more. “I’m ready, you’ve done enough. Please, I can take you now, so just…j-just…” He faltered, mouth rippling around a moan.

         But Key appeared to have not heard him.

         RGB shuddered when a fourth finger slid into place next to the others, too slow to snap the fragile band keeping his climax at bay. He buckled down to a forearm, nails scraping at the ground.

         Key placed a free palm at his back and rotated his wrist, slow, careful, watching him for every reaction he had to give.

         “I’m going t… to come like this!” RGB panted, relishing the slow burn of stretched muscle. He made a grab at air and seized hold of a forearm, another moan escaping him.

         Key continued to watch him, silent, fucking RGB on his fingers. His free hand stroked along the dip of his waist, the planes of his stomach. Wet noises filled the air between them, punctured only by RGB’s pleased cries.

         And then he traced RGB’s already stuffed entrance with his thumb.

         For a wild second, RGB thought Key was going to slip it in as well, split him open with his entire hand. His thighs quaked, mouth giving a giddy ripple, and he watched the other as he had been watched by a staring eye.

         Key met his gaze, leaning forward to gently nudge their heads together, nuzzling against him as his eye roamed back down to his hand. Again, his thumb trailed around RGB’s entrance, teasing the rim, as if debating whether or not to make it give just a little more.

         RGB waited, breath shallow, dizzy with the anticipation. “I’m going to come like this,” he choked again, not sure if he was warning Key or just informing him.

         Key, however, favored him with an intangible sort of grin, and crooked his fingers and pressed his thumb not in but _up_ to drag along the nub of RGB’s stiffness.

         RGB arched, silent in his shock as his climax surged through him with an unexpected quickness. A broken moan left him as his body clenched greedily around Key’s fingers, hips rolling into them, head falling back again. Color ran down his thighs in shades of cobalt and emerald green and electric violet, pooling on the ground, swirling together in peacock shades.

         Key eased his fingers free and helped RGB sit up, leaning forward only to stop, eye flickering as if with a blink.

         RGB, on the verge of swooning, reached up to him and guided him into an electrifying kiss himself. When they parted, he leaned into Key, trying to catch his nonexistent breath and uncurling his toes.

         Key’s gaze roamed him for a moment before his screen dipped, staring at the gathered puddle of color in his palm. It followed the curves of his wrist as he lifted it, the line of his forearm until his arm was visible in vivid stripes.

         Eye flicking with white and grey light as he stared at RGB again, Key reached for himself and painted his own cock into view.

         RGB swallowed, temporarily satiated desire rising once more as he watched a bit of black trickle from Key’s tip, mixing and darkening his colors as the other stroked himself. Unable to help himself, he batted Key’s hand away and took the other’s length into his own palm, fingertips skimming down the other’s shaft to his stomach, leaving long streaks of indigo and wine and evergreen in their wake.

         Key blew out a breath, fans humming eagerly.

         “Rogue,” RGB purred, thumbing the other’s tip, grinning at the full-bodied jolt he got in response. “You were planning on my coming the entire time, weren’t you?”

         Key nodded, radiating smugness.

         RGB stroked him from tip to base, grinning when the smugness dissolved. “I suppose I’m all ready for this then.” He dragged a fingertip down the underside of Key’s shaft, relishing the shudder it earned him. “Mind getting on your back for me? We can change, but, just for the start, I’d like you on your back,” he added. The position would give him the most control over the other, and, though Key had an odd familiarity about it, RGB preferred not to relinquish all his power for the time being.

         Key laid down so quickly it was as if he had been felled by a Grief, and RGB couldn’t help but chuckle at him, rolling to his hands and knees and moving toward the other.

         “Is this all right?” he checked, straddling Key’s hips. When approving hands ran up and down his thighs, painting them with dark fluid, he chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes. Now then.”

         RGB reached for Key a third time, lining them up and pressing down just enough to feel the other’s tip catch along his entrance, and then a bit further, until he could support himself with both hands and focus.

         Antennae bending, one crimping near the tip, RGB sunk onto Key’s cock, letting his knees fall wider. It worked further than the fingers had, helping to split him open all the way instead of a just finger’s length. Green and magenta and a two little drips of blue poured from his screen, sparks tingling along his antennae. He wanted it, every inch, all at once, but this prolonged agony was sending bolts of pleasure up and down his spine like lightning, so he caught his breath and cast his gaze to his partner.

         Key’s stomach was taut under the layer of color, the ink mapping valleys and mountains out of the muscle. RGB watched them flex as he pressed down further, until he was fully seated in the other’s lap, thighs pressing behind him. He reached back, idly, to run his hands up to bent knees, using them for leverage to rise up again and sink down.

         Black and cobalt and dark navy ran from their point of connection, from where RGB’s body welcomed Key’s. There was a daub of green and violet low on Key’s stomach, and RGB, obscenely curious, reached for it and pushed it further with his thumb, feeling rough curls. He liked them more than he thought he would, the way they rubbed against the shaved smoothness between his own legs as he rocked, bolder now that he was used to the girth inside him.

         “Enjoying yourself?” he purred, leaning forward, bracing one hand by Key’s head and the other on his chest, leaving a vivid handprint behind.

         Key nodded, eye rolling, a whining noise leaving him as RGB circled his hips, sinking his weight into his knees to change the angle, the pressure. He bucked upwards, a little helplessly, and RGB allowed himself a grin.

         “I’ll take that as a yes.”

         Key’s hands roamed him as he moved, fingers sliding in time with the way he worked himself up and down. The other telly’s eye rolled, pixels clouding around them, mechanical noises of pleasure ringing between them, aborted shouts lapsing into harsh static.

         RGB grinned, watching their actions paint their bodies into view. Key’s torso was a mess of magentas and greens, drips of blue, streaked with his own ink. His hands, dark and emerald and amethyst, alternated between stroking RGB and clutching at him, thrusting up to meet him as he came down.

         Huffing a breath, RGB rolled his hips harder into Key’s lap, bracing a forearm against the ground so he could lower himself for a crackling kiss, chuckling breathlessly when they parted. “Enjoying yourself?”

         A hand clawed at the small of his back, the sting of nails hot and delicious. Key all but growled at him as he pulled away, smirking and still now. The hips under him tried to illicit some sort of response from him, bucking upwards, and his reply was to rise to his knees at the same time, preventing Key from sliding any deeper into him.

         “If you want it,” RGB bent low again, just out of reach, pressing their hips together until Key’s eye flared wide and there was not a sliver of space between then, “come and get it then.”

         Perhaps he should not have teased the other so, but it was in his nature. It would have been a lie to say he didn’t want to prolong their encounter, and this was the best way he knew how—teasing torture, satisfying a partner before they could tip over into true frustration, and— _!_

         RGB yelped in shock as Key threw himself upright, arms sliding around his back to hold him close. His head spun, dizziness meeting the edges of his pleasure as he tried to understand why he was staring at the ceiling, why his back was pressed to the floor, the chill of the stone making him shiver.

         Key leaned over him, gaze smug, humming richly. RGB could feel it thrum against his own chest, the other’s warmth seeping into his skin.

         “Well, you certainly came and got it, didn’t you?” he chuckled, rearranging his legs to hitch over Key’s hips. The shifting allowed the other to sink further into him, and they both stilled, Key’s hands rasping on either side of RGB’s head, RGB’s toes curling. “Mmm, perhaps not _came_ just yet,” he added absently. He slid his hands from painted forearm to bicep, up broad shoulders and around. “I think we should change that.”

         Key seemed to be of the same mind, curling around him and bending for a screen-to-screen kiss, one that had RGB shuddering around him as the other thrust forward in deep, rolling motions.

         Was this what it was like to have a heartbeat again? To be so governed by the rhythm and tempo of something he couldn’t control?

         RGB lifted his hips to meet Key, dragging his nails down the other’s chest, grinning at the soft hiss of air he got in reply. He smoothed his palm over trail, up further to tease bent antennae.

         It was exhilarating.

         RGB sighed Key’s name in time to a flicker of lightning, the white light throwing their shared shadow against the wall. Key purred in time to the thunder, quickening his pace until RGB was writhing, crying out beneath him _._

         _They say the medicine is bitter, but this…_ RGB bumped their screens together in a clumsy approximation of a kiss and almost laughed at the dash of green he left near Key’s settings panel. _Bitter is the_ last _word I’d use to describe this._

         Even so, there was only so much RGB could handle at once, and the fluttering, flexing low in his stomach was driving him to madness.

         Desperate, he reached between their bodies to stroke himself to completion, lest he burn up completely. He worked his fingers in time to Key’s thrusts, tipping himself over the edge as Key caught him in a kiss and plunged forward. Color gushed from him again, light gold and peach and berry pink, lighter than what he had managed before. His legs tightened of their own accord, ankles crossing over the small of Key’s back as he gasped, hardly feeling the pseudo-kisses pressed down his chest, pleasant static zipping between them.

         Once the pleasurable tide ebbed fully and he could unfold his legs, he glanced between them, hoping to see copper and dark raspberry, swirled through with black.

         But there were only pale colors, marking his thighs and gathered at the base of Key’s cock, where the darker telly’s fingers curled in a tight ring.

         “You… stopped yourself from finishing?” RGB questioned, antennae quirking. A flicker of a disappointment flashed through him before he could stop it. “Why?”

         Key shrugged, letting out a purring whir at the pastel display. He pulled back, leaving just his tip in, and pushed forward, causing RGB to shudder as more color left him.

         “Come on, now,” RGB insisted, catching the other’s gaze. “You’ve done more than enough for me.” He set a hand on the side of Key’s telly, as if he were cupping a cheek, and dropped his voice to a purr. “I want you find your pleasure as well.” He leaned forward, letting a tiny spark flash between their screens, like a peck on the lips. “I want to _feel_ you find your pleasure.”

         Key flickered at that, the pinprick of his pupil dilating.

         RGB grinned. “Now, how to you want— _!”_

         He squeaked as Key seized a hip in each hand and flipped him around, pulling his hips up and pressing his chest to the cool stone of the cave floor. He allowed it, antennae quirked, green and magenta pouring from his mouth.

         The manhandling was… _hmm._

         RGB rose to his forearms, arching his back in what he hoped was a tempting display, streaks of color no doubt making their way down his thigh as he swayed his hips into the other’s hands.

         Key mounted him roughly, hands slamming and bracing on either side of his shoulders, hips working against his until something caught and they slid together again like a…

         RGB stifled a chuckle, turning his head to half-glance at the other.

         They slid together like a lock and a Key.

         He kept his pun to himself, enjoying the way the other’s chest slipped along his back until he could feel ink dripping over his neck, hot air warming his invisible skin.

         Well, he could say he had achieved “tempting.”

         “Wait,” RGB called before they could begin. He twisted to meet Key partway as the other leaned further over him, concerned. “Promise you’ll come this time?”

         Key sighed from his vents, nudging RGB’s telly with his own. **“** **P** **̷͠** **r** **͜** **om** **̧͞…** **i** **͘͡͠** **s** **́** **e** ** **.** **”****

         “Good.” He faced forward again. “I look forward to it.” It had been ages since someone spilled inside him last…. He couldn’t deny he was hungry for it.

         Key’s gentle ministrations lasted about as long as RGB’s patience with them did. As soon as he assured himself the more colorful telly was ready, his grip shifted, fingers squeezing around RGB’s waist, pressing so hard his breath caught.

         There was nothing gentle now, nothing gentle about the desperate hands on him, dark nails stinging on his stomach as their owner bent over him and drove forward, desperate and panting just as hard. They quaked at the thunder and wondered if the lightning crackling along their twined bodies was from the storm or them. Outside, inside—the weather had manifested everywhere, and RGB wasn’t even sure he wanted to escape anymore.

         Not if it meant giving the drag and push inside him, and the smears of ink and color around him.

         He started when a hand landed on the small of his back, following the curve of his spine, slipping underneath his binder. He shivered at hot fingers splayed between his shoulder blades, dripping green and a drop of yellow as they explored covered skin for a few moments before pulling free and continuing, up the nape of his neck before sliding around to the front.

         RGB swallowed at this, screen dim, feeling his throat flex against Key’s palm. The other had slowed behind him, the susurrus of the rain audible above their humming fans. He almost wanted to ask why, why stop, why pause to think?

         But the silence, he realized, was harmless for once, if not tender.

         Peaceful even.

         Pushing off from the ground, RGB rose to his knees to lean back against Key, pressing his back to a warm chest. The hand on his waist slipped around to his stomach, a palm cupping just below his navel. He covered it with his own, wishing for eyes to close, for a way to freeze this moment and never travel beyond it.

         But he had no talents with time and Time owed him no favors.

         This lull would have to suffice.

         Key kissed his shoulder with a crackle of static and sparks, and RGB grinned, the green and cyan mixing as they rolled down his screen, the softened green breaking apart to run down his chest like vines.

         Yes.

         It would more than suffice.

         A single, hard buck from behind was enough to force a gasp from him, the fingers around his throat tightening for an instant, not enough to pinch his airway shut, but just enough to remind him they were there.

         The moment slipped away as if drowned, but his grief for it was only passing at best.

         RGB choked on a moan, reaching up to cross those hot fingers with his own, two hands wrapped around his own neck. “Please,” he whispered, tilting his telly up to bare himself further, to allow himself this vulnerability. _“Please.”_

         He thought he heard Key chuckle, soft and surprisingly clear. The hand on his neck slipped away, over his shoulder, down his back, thumb skimming over the line of his spine until both palms fit to RGB’s hips, coaxing him back down to his hands. Key began again, quicker, harsher, as if to make up for the dwindling storm.

         The rain could hardly mask the noises anymore….

         RGB was beginning to buckle for a third time, teetering somewhere between thick pleasure and the pain of overstimulation, and he rocked against it with a moan. Relief fluttered temptingly out of reach, like a scrap of cloth dancing on a breeze, and, desperate to seize it, RGB reached between his legs. He managed to get one hard rub in, the sensation comparable to a match dragged over sandpaper, before a hand seized his wrist and forced his hand to the floor, keeping it pinned for a moment before releasing it to grasp his hips again.

         The message was clear—either he came entirely untouched or he didn’t come at all.

         RGB whined helplessly at the realization, grinding back into Key’s lap or, rather, trying to. The hands on his hips tightened, fingers digging into his skin, preventing him from moving. He would have loved to see the marks they left and relished the thought of touching them in the aftermath to feel unseen bruises flare hot and sore with the memory of Key driving into him.

         “Harder,” he pleaded. “If you can… Just a bit _harder…”_

         Key’s response was to slow, and RGB almost screamed in frustration, but the angle of the other’s hips changed, pace slowing further, as if searching for something….

         RGB didn’t have the time to ask him what for (he was too busy begging, pride forgotten) when Key surged forward again at his tiny gasp—something had exploded inside him, a bomb with no timer but a switch. He hardly realized he yelled out until the sound echoed back to him. He was beyond words, beyond pain, drowning in something like ecstasy. He found himself tightening in response to the unerring accuracy of Key’s thrusts against his spot, another orgasm building before he could catch his breath from the first.

         “Don’t pull out!” RGB cried, scrabbling at the ground when Key hesitated. “Don’t pull out! Please! I want…” He faltered, wishing he could take Key a little deeper, just a few centimeters more. “I want to feel it!”

         Had RGB been able to look back, he would have seen Key’s eye roll upwards, ink watering along the edges of his screen like tears. Even so, RGB felt the other’s grip on him shift, clutching at his hips to pull him back now as Key thrust forward at a brutal tempo, stuttering once, twice, and finally….

         The rush of warmth had RGB trembling, knees knocking together as his thighs shook and his elbows buckled. He wasn’t sure if this was an orgasm but it certainly was _something_ , tearing through him from the inside in waves. He panted hard, head bowed, watching the color drool from his mouth and to the floor, as his body shook its way through a third climax, muscles clamping down around Key as if he were the sole thing keeping him anchored.

         Trembling with the effort of remaining upright, RGB liked to think he was.

         Key panted behind him, his own fans whirling, hands relaxing on RGB’s hips. He leaned forward, an arm wrapping around RGB’s waist, holding him against his chest, still and strong as the stone around them. He ground forward a few times, hands splayed against RGB’s stomach, like he was desperate to spill himself as deep as he could. And when it became obvious RGB couldn’t bear to stay up a second longer, Key rolled them both back without pulling out and sat with RGB in his lap.

         Just as they had started.

         RGB turned into him, murmuring his thanks, soft noises of pleasure, about how he could feel Key still coming inside him and how he could still feel himself taking it all in. He let a hand trail down his stomach, reaching between his legs, Key legs, stroking their point of connection with his fingertips so the same shiver rolled through both their bodies.

         They didn’t move for a long while. Even after the pulse of their bodies faded, they stayed close, entwined, until Key was too soft to stay inside RGB.

         RGB whimpered when the other slipped out of him, his pliant body closing (not completely though, he was too open to close completely) around nothing. He glanced down in time to see a stream of thick black roll down his thighs, mixing with the new shades of pastel mint, light aqua, and delicate cerulean, darkening them to pine and teal and deep ocean blue. He reached for it, dipping a finger inside himself, hardly feeling anything but the wet warmth dripping over his knuckles.

         Key burst an excited static noise, watching over his shoulder, eye fixed on the display.

         “Like your handiwork?” RGB teased. He slipped off Key’s lap to face him, spreading himself open so the other could see. “Look at what a pretty mess you’ve made of me.” He pressed low on his stomach, letting the ink and color pour from him in a lazy waterfall, staining the insides of his legs.

         Key reached for him, a palm sliding up RGB’s thigh. A glitchy stream of sounds left him, the air around him pixelating, as if his excitement wasn’t containable and altered the world around him as a result.

         RGB gasped when fingers trailed between his legs, gathering up the spill. A moan tore itself from him when the excess was pushed back inside him, the slick sound somehow obscener than it had first been, when Key had worked him open and thrust into him.

         “Easy with that!” he laughed, breathless. “I need a moment to rest if we’re to keep going.” He sighed, running a hand over the top of his screen like he would through hair to push it back. “Though admittedly, I think I would prefer something of a nap over continuing.”

         Key nodded, spreading out their jackets and lying on top of them, holding out his arms.

         RGB eagerly crawled into the offered embrace, test-screen mouth twitching upwards when a hand petted over the back of his telly.

         “Thank you,” he murmured, tilting his head into Key’s chest. “For pulling me from the storm… And for what followed.”

         Key rumbled gently, somewhere between a purr and a protective growl. One of his hands ran down RGB’s back, pressing just harder than necessary, as if he was rubbing something into his painted skin.

         A claim, perhaps.

         RGB hummed an electronic sort of noise of his own, antennae drooping as sleep crept up on him. The rain continued to patter outside and the thunder continued to grumble every now and then, but the sounds were distant enough, his fear muffled by the fog of exhausted pleasure and the arms wrapped around him.

         “Do you dream?” he mumbled, static creeping along his screen.

         Key chuckled. **“** **I** **̷̧̛** **w** **̴̡** **i** **l** **l** **̶̢** **...** **̢͟͜ ̶̡̀** **̕͠** **k** **̕͜** **e** **͘͝** **e** **̡͞** **p** **̛** **t** **̡͘** **h** **e̴͘** **m** **͟͢** **.** **̶͞** **.** **̵** **.** **̸̕͢** **͘** **f** **͏̸** **r** **̴́** **o** **̧̛m̸̛** **̡͢** **h** ** **a** **r** **mi** **ng͘** **.** **̵̀** **.** **̡͜** **.** **͝͞** **͞͞͏** **yo** **u** **.** **̶̡͘** **”****

         RGB wanted to laugh at that, because no one could stand under the power of dreams. But Key sounded so sure, so certain….

         He drifted off, musing unraveling like a half-tied knot, aware of nothing but the hands gentling him and the quiet sound of the rain as the storm began to break.

 

\---

****

_An empty set, filled with phantom noises—spinning cameras, humming lights, the smack of a clapperboard. Familiar but phantom noises… Music. Laughter. Voices. Snippets of it, like clipped film, pieced together._

_“…-ing with you.”_

_“What?” His own voice echoed around him, as if the space was larger than it appeared. It didn’t some right somehow, as if there was an effect missing from his words. A sliver of panic threatened to lodge itself in his chest and he tried to take a step back into nothing._

_But then there was a warm hand, shaking his, grip familiar and strange all at once. He caught a glimpse of hair, straight and ebony black, and piercing eyes, level with his own._

_Was this a memory? A fantasy? Both?_

_His head was spinning or the room was spinning,_ something _was spinning, water swirling down a drain, and there were hands on his back, on his skin, lips stealing the breath from him and the smell of ink and roses and heat and darkness and— and— and— and—_

**_Scene._ **

****

\---

 

         What little light managed to get into the cave shone directly in RGB’s screen, prompting him to groan and tuck into a tighter ball, the static replaced with a test-bar mouth. He stretched his way out of his curl, stretching his arms over his head, coat bunching underneath him.

         “That was the best sleep I’ve had in ages,” he sighed. A flare of soreness burned in his back and hips for a moment, and he relaxed with a quiet laugh. “Best sex I’ve had in ages as well.”

         There was no answer, not even a rustle of fabric or crackle of static.

         “Key?” he called, sitting up and looking around. “Key?” His own voice answered him, sounding smaller and sadder than he wanted to believe. There was nothing else but a withered brown vine, sagging against the far wall, and his folded clothes.

         “Oh.” His soft noise didn’t echo this time. He shook his head, a strange pang rattling around his empty chest. “Well, what were you expecting?” he muttered to himself, dusting himself off. Flakes of black fell from his hands and thighs, and he scraped them away. The rest of him, thankfully, was clean and he didn’t stop to ponder who had cleaned him, or why they had bothered.

         He bent to retrieve his coat when a glitter and shine near his foot caught his eye. He stopped, the bleed of red and cyan at his mouth drying and giving way to magenta as he reached out and picked up the token left by his telly while he slept.

         It was a blue rose, petals so delicate and translucent he would have thought they were made of glass. The stem glittered in a metallic sort of way, rich gold and thornless, and the leaf was silken when he touched it.

         “Oh,” he breathed again, the twinging easing into a warm sort of throb.

         RGB set the rose carefully to the side as he dressed, smooth his green shirt and tan trousers, clipping his suspenders into place, tugging on his gloves, and tying his bowtie. He considered the rose for a moment before tucking it into his buttonhole, rather like the contrast of blue petals against his peach blazer. His hips ached when he bent for his hat and cane, and he couldn’t help but match his hand to one, relishing the deep burn when he squeezed.

         RGB stepped out onto the plains once more, staring up at the clear sky with a rueful smile, wishing, for the first time, that the storm had stayed just a few hours longer.


End file.
